Four major MCI shareholders criticized the company’s board today for favoring a $7.5 billion takeover by Verizon over a higher offer from Denver-based Qwest, raising the likelihood that the biggest telecom bidding war in six years will continue.

Like Qwest Communications International Inc., the shareholders were mulling their next step, voicing frustration that MCI Inc.’s board has repeatedly chosen to leave money on the table by rejecting Qwest’s overtures.

Qwest officials weren’t talking today, but the company could submit a new bid or take its offer directly to shareholders through a tender offer or a proxy fight.

For shareholders, options range from selling stock now at current market prices – higher than what they’re slated to receive from Verizon – to voting directly for Qwest’s offer or attempting to replace MCI’s directors with individuals favoring the Qwest.

If they do nothing, MCI investors would still have an opportunity to vote for or against the Verizon deal at a special shareholder meeting. No date has been set, though the original plan was for a vote during the spring.

Four investors who together hold about 12 percent of MCI’s shares told The Associated Press today they opposed the board’s insistence on favoring Verizon out of concerns over Qwest’s financial health.

The MCI board voted late Tuesday to reject Qwest’s most recent offer, a decision made after Qwest apparently rejected an MCI request to increase its offer to $30 a share from $27.50, according to a source close to the talks.

In opting to stick with Verizon, the MCI board reiterated its concern about the Denver company’s financial health and the long-term value of the shares it would use as partial payment to MCI shareholders. The board also questioned whether Qwest could meet its aggressive forecast of nearly $3 billion a year in cost savings from the proposed merger.

John Paulson of Paulson and Co., a hedge fund that owns about 3.9 percent of MCI stock, said that if a vote were held today, he would favor Qwest. “I haven’t met one major shareholder that supports Verizon’s offer over Qwest’s offer,” he said.

Leon Cooperman, chairman of Omega Advisors, which owns about 3 percent of MCI stock, said he doubts shareholders will approve the Verizon offer as it stands. “I would prefer this would be resolved more quickly, but it looks like it will be resolved painfully and over some period of time,” he said.

Bill Miller, chief investment officer for Legg Mason Capital Management which has about 1.7 percent of MCI stock, called the MCI board “clearly mathematically challenged.” “The MCI board seems to have mastered the Orwellian art of doublespeak by trying to convince the shareholders that less is really more,” he said.

Elliott Associates, another hedge fund holding about 3.5 percent of MCI’s stock, said it still views the MCI offer as superior and intends to vote against the Verizon deal “as currently structured.” Both Qwest and Verizon have hired proxy consulting firms, an indication that the bidding war will continue.

Shares of MCI, which is based in Ashburn, Va., rose 38 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $25.39 in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then rose another 1.6 percent in after hours trading. Qwest fell 8 cents, or 2 percent, to $3.78 on the New York Stock Exchange, while Verizon rose 15 cents to $35.51 on the NYSE.

Telecommunications analyst David Barden of Banc of America Securities said Qwest isn’t likely to concede.

“Based on Qwest’s statement that it believes its bid is currently ‘superior’ and early statement from vocal MCI stockholders that they agree, we believe Qwest is more inclined to go hostile than pursue a higher bid again with the MCI Board,” he wrote in a research note.

Verizon and Qwest, two of the nation’s biggest telephone companies, have been battling for about two months over MCI, which operates a national fiber-optic network with a lucrative roster of government and corporate clients.

MCI’s board, concerned about Qwest’s $17 billion debt load, has twice accepted lower bids from Verizon rather than agreeing to merge with Qwest.

Qwest’s most recent offer of cash and stock was worth $27.50 a share. Verizon’s latest stock-and-cash bid values MCI at $23.10 per share, up from $20.75 under the original agreement those companies reached in mid-February.

Qwest, the local phone company for 14 mostly Western states, has argued that its merger proposal would be less harmful in the competitive environment and would gain regulatory approval more quickly than a Verizon-MCI combination.

Based in New York, Verizon is the dominant phone company in the eastern part of the country.

When MCI emerged from bankruptcy last year, it implemented a so-called “poison pill” or shareholders’ rights clause that would deter any single shareholder from acquiring more than 15 percent of its stock.

Because of that clause, Qwest could make a tender offer directly to shareholders on the condition that MCI waive that clause. In that case, it would become clear how many shareholders support the Qwest offer, said Muir Paterson, a director of Institutional Shareholders Services, an independent advisory firm.

Qwest also could pursue a proxy fight or campaign for shareholders to seat an alternate slate of board members who favor its offer, he said.

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